Bay Bridge in Calif gets good luck charm: troll

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Officials say the new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has had its final piece of safety hardware installed: a bearded, spindly legged troll.

Bay Area Toll Authority spokesman John Goodwin told the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/19waNW3 ) in a weekend story that the troll — a statue forged by an unknown artist — was installed at an undisclosed location.

The troll is meant to be a good luck charm and is modeled after a similar statue placed surreptitiously by a steelworker on the old span after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

The original troll was removed from its perch on Labor Day and will likely be housed in a museum or park.

A photograph shows the new troll statue holding a hammer in one hand and an axe in the other.